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Talk to some folks that own one of these before you invest. I know of some folks that aren't seeing anywhere near the promised power generation despite having an excellent location for one.

I have a buddy that built a gorgeous Log Cabin off-grid. He and his partner installed a generator for cloudy days...a Huge array of solar panels that he doubled in size...and eventually added a wind generator.

He made the same mistake many make w/wind generators. He bought too small and didn't do any anenometer tests before buying/placing it.

In the end....he'd spent more on "green energy" that didn't work.. instead of installing CMP to begin, and adding alternatives for back-up.

He too planned to sell extra back to the power company. My question to him was, what do you do during a power outage when there are men unpredictably working on the lines? And are you sure you'll have any extra to make the effort worthwhile.

Stand-by Home generators

A quick note about Standby Generators.

First, having one of these will take away the anxiety attacks that come when Kevin Mannix starts talking about ice storms or wide-spread power outages. They come equipped with an automatic transfer switch so if the power goes out in less then 30 seconds everything in your home will come back on. It all happens automatically. You don't have to do a things other then listen for it to come on. We have 500 gallons of propane, enough to run the thing for a month and a half.

There is one big issue that I didn't learn about until after the first prolonged outage and that's oil consumption. These motors run rather hot and burn oil. Most will need to add a quart every two or three days. So if you're a snowbird you'll still want to have somebody check the oil level if we have a long outage. First time this happened, I was sick with a cold and it shut off in the middle of the night in February. I wasn't a happy camper but I did have a quart of the synthetic motor oil they use and that did the trick.

Last thought and that is who you choose buy from. I bought from a company that advertizes state wide and have been less then impressed with service. If you'd like the details let me know. The Attorney General's office has a public site where you can see the experience ratings of Maine businesses and the number of unresolved complaints. Worth looking at for any major purchase. My unit cost about 7K installed.

I fixed a lot of roofs people chopped up with hatchets after the ice storm, can you imagine people up there chipping the ice of their solar cells???

Sheesh! You should see my (off-road) F-150 plow truck. I bought it from an old farmer a few years ago. During the 1998 ice storm he tried to gently clear the ice off the front windshield - with a hammer. The entire windshield is covered with "stars"! LOL!